Module CLAS2331: FROM TRAGEDY TO COMEDY

Department: CLASSICS AND ANCIENT HISTORY

CLAS2331: FROM TRAGEDY TO COMEDY

Type	Open	Level	2	Credits	20	Availability	Available in 2006/07 and alternate years thereafter	Module Cap	None.	Location	Durham

Prerequisites

• Remembering Athens (CLAS1601).

Corequisites

• For students in the Classics Department, please refer to the Regulations for your degree programme. For students in other Departments, there are no corequisites.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To trace the development of tragedy in the hands of Euripides into Tragi-comedy.
• To trace the development of Comedy from the Greek world of the 5th century BC to the Roman world of the 2nd century BC.
• To link the above by noting the role of Euripidean Tragi-comedy in the development of later Greek comedy.

Content

• The module covers four plays of Euripides (two tragedies and two tragi-comedies), three plays of Aristophanes and one play each of Menander, Plautus and Terence.
• Some of the plays will be covered in detail in lectures (eg Bacchae, Helen, Birds), while others will be covered in essays, tutorials and seminars.
• It is intended in this way to combine breadth and depth of coverage.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge of the translated texts of ten plays (some tragedies, some tragi-comedies, some comedies, both old and new), five of them in detail; of the chronological, literary and cultural relationship of the plays to each other; and of the issues of interpretation raised by the plays.

• Ability to understand and interpret, on a broad and on a detailed level, the genres (and related sub-genres) of Ancient Tragedy and Ancient Comedy; also to compare one text, author or genre (sub-genre) with another and draw appropriate conclusions.

• Ability to use both primary and secondary sources to interpret texts; to use texts as a means of understanding their broader cultural background; to evaluate the arguments of others and to produce arguments of one's own in support of a given case.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures will provide detailed analysis of five of the plays, while seminars will enable students to cover a wider range of plays and a broader range of issues.
• Formative essays will enable students to engage critically with the plays and the issues covered in the lectures, while tutorials will provide feedback on this process.
• The examination will assess students' familiarity with the text of the plays covered in the lectures, and will test the sophistication of their analysis in general.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total/Hours
Lectures	22	1 Per Week	1 Hour	22
Tutorials	2	1 in Michaelmas Term and 1 in Epiphany Term	1 Hour	2
Seminars	5	2 in Michaelmas Term, 2 in Epiphany Term and 1 in Easter Term	1 Hour	5
Preparation and Reading				171
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Examination 100% (three-hour written examination 100%).

Formative Assessment:

2 essays of c.1500 words each. No collections.

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■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University